cooking adventures in Boston

Main menu

Monthly Archives: December 2012

Good day! My name is Cassie and I’m a contributing writer to this delicious blog.

I’m here to introduce you to the world’s best and easiest scotch shortbread recipe. It was my English Great Grandmother Florence Harper’s recipe, and I make it every holiday with my Grandma. (Fun Fact: My Great Grandma was named after Florence Nightingale). This year I brought it to a holiday party and it was gone within minutes.

What You’ll Need:

– 4 sticks of salted butter

– 1 cup of granulated sugar

– 4 cups of flour

Baking:

– Mash the butter (at room temperature) and sugar together with a fork in a large mixing bowl.

– Add flour one cup at a time, kneading in-between additions. Knead the dough until all of the flour is thoroughly worked into the dough.

– Place the dough into a cake pan and pat the dough down evenly into the corners. With the tips of your fingers, pinch around the edges to make a “fancy border” as my grandma says

– Poke the dough with a fork and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden. If you have a convection oven, bake at 325°.

I made it on my own for the first time tonight, and it turned out well. The texture should be dense and moist. Wait 5 to 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven to slice it into fingers. If you wait longer than that, the outside will become harder and more difficult to cut, but if you slice it too soon it will crumble. I enjoy a piece with a hot cup of strong tea.

I hope this makes the cold weather a little more bearable. Happy holidays!